'Restrepo' Director Killed in Libya, Was Scheduled to Appear in Dallas

Part of ‘XXI: Conflicts in a New Century,’ an exhibition of battlefield photojournalism at the Oak Cliff Cultural Center, was to include a screening of the Oscar-nominated doc, ‘Restrepo’ — with its director Tim Hetherington.

CTA TBD

The New York Times reports that Tim Hetherington, the director of Restrepo, was killed reportedly by a rocket-propelled grenade in the city of Misurata, under seige by Qaddafi loyalists. Three photographers with Hetherington were also seriously wounded by shrapnel.

Restrepo is the Academy Award-nominated documentary about a year in the life of a US army platoon in the most dangerous valley in Afghanistan. The film was scheduled for a free screening May 11 as part of XXI: Conflicts in a New Century, an exhibition of battlefield photojournalism that has opened at the Oak Cliff Cultural Center and runs through June 5. Hetherington himself was supposed to be in attendance.

Cynthia Mulcahy, co-curator of the exhibition with Charles Dee Mitchell, sent us this message:

It’s a devastating loss, utterly devastating.

We will honor Tim and his work with the screening. It’s slated for May 11th and Tim was to be here for it. I think it’s too early today to say 100% we will keep the same date, but for now the Texas Theatre, Dee and I all agree we will have the screening in honor of Tim. We might now want more time to bring in some of the platoon members in the film.

Tim’s photographs are also included in the exhibition that opened Friday evening. Please spread the word about this important exhibition.

Jerome Weeks is the Senior Arts Reporter/Producer for KERA. Previously at The Dallas Morning News, he was the book columnist for 10 years and the drama critic for 10 years before that. His writing has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Salon, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, American Theatre and Men’s Vogue magazines. View more about Jerome Weeks.